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fix(deploy): make disk-image-sintra-usb BIOS+UEFI bootable (GRUB)

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The USB disk image was systemd-boot (UEFI-only) with make-disk-image's "efi"
table (pure GPT + ESP, protective MBR). The Sintra's Aaeon UP Board firmware
USB-boots in Legacy/BIOS mode — it boots the live ISO via that ISO's isolinux
(BIOS) El Torito image, not the UEFI ESP — so a dd'd systemd-boot image has no
BIOS boot code to execute and the firmware won't list it (a hand-added hybrid
MBR didn't help: nothing to run).

Switch the USB target to GRUB with BIOS + UEFI on make-disk-image's "hybrid"
table: it adds a bios_grub partition, GRUB writes its BIOS stage to the MBR AND
a removable /EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI — mirroring the live ISO's dual boot. The
Aaeon now lists it (as two "ia android" entries, BIOS + UEFI) and boots it.
Scoped to disk-image-sintra-usb only; the eMMC install keeps systemd-boot.
ESP stays partition 1 so the ESP-USB relabel step is unchanged.

Verified on hardware: booted from USB into the wizard with the full upboard.nix
hardware config.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Padreug 2026-07-02 14:49:27 +02:00
commit c8745addbc
1 changed files with 21 additions and 1 deletions
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22
flake.nix
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@ -342,6 +342,25 @@
fileSystems."/".device = lib.mkForce "/dev/disk/by-label/nixos-usb"; fileSystems."/".device = lib.mkForce "/dev/disk/by-label/nixos-usb";
fileSystems."/boot".device = lib.mkForce "/dev/disk/by-label/ESP-USB"; fileSystems."/boot".device = lib.mkForce "/dev/disk/by-label/ESP-USB";
system.autoUpgrade.enable = lib.mkForce false; system.autoUpgrade.enable = lib.mkForce false;
# The Sintra's Aaeon firmware USB-boots in Legacy/BIOS mode — it
# boots the live ISO via its isolinux (BIOS) El Torito image, not
# the UEFI ESP. systemd-boot is UEFI-only, so a dd'd systemd-boot
# image isn't recognised as bootable. Switch THIS USB image to
# GRUB with BOTH BIOS (MBR + bios_grub partition, via the "hybrid"
# table below) and UEFI (removable /EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI) — mirroring
# the live ISO's dual boot — so it boots on Legacy and UEFI alike.
# Scoped to the USB image; the eMMC install keeps systemd-boot.
boot.loader.systemd-boot.enable = lib.mkForce false;
boot.loader.efi.canTouchEfiVariables = lib.mkForce false;
boot.loader.grub = {
enable = lib.mkForce true;
efiSupport = true;
efiInstallAsRemovable = true;
# make-disk-image's build VM exposes the image as /dev/vda;
# GRUB installs its BIOS stage to that disk's MBR.
devices = lib.mkForce [ "/dev/vda" ];
};
}) })
]; ];
}; };
@ -349,7 +368,8 @@
inherit pkgs lib; inherit pkgs lib;
config = cfg.config; config = cfg.config;
format = "raw"; format = "raw";
partitionTableType = "efi"; # hybrid = GPT + bios_grub partition + ESP → BIOS + UEFI bootable.
partitionTableType = "hybrid";
diskSize = "auto"; diskSize = "auto";
label = "nixos-usb"; # ext4 root label (make-disk-image -L) label = "nixos-usb"; # ext4 root label (make-disk-image -L)
}; };